Investments Are Tricky Things

Josh Margolin reports in the Star-Ledger that Governor Corzine has investments in a group known as The Texas Pacific Group or TPG, which has holdings in NJ Casinos. A conflict? Well, the Corzine campaign claims that the guv’s money is with TPG Axon – a hedge fund that is completely unrelated to TPG capital – and it’s Capital that has the casino investments, not Axon.

If you speak to spokesmen from both Capital and Axon they claim there is a firewall and they are completely separate entities. The guv says the same. So I asked if they are linked financially…in other words when the Bear Stearns hedge funds sank, it brought down the whole bank. Would a failure on the part of Axon require Capital to cover the loss? “No,” say the two now media savvy TPG Capital and TPG Axon spokesmen.

But here is the thing as Christie is quick to point out….They kinda have the same name, and they share an office floor in NYC. Both ( separate! ) companies also sent their employees, according to Christie, to a mutual training session in Asia.

Well, you know how it is in the financial industry. …strict regulations about who can own what and what kind of investments you can make keep everything kosher. kidding, of course.

But the Corzine campaign shoots back. They say people in glass houses should not throw stones. The guv campaign points to Christie’s financial disclosure forms when he was US Attorney. They show an investment in the Cendant Corporation. At the time Christie’s office was prosecuting a case against Cendant’s two former executives.

Christie said Wednesday that he had no control over the investment – his financial guy did….and besides he divested in 2005. The company also went under later that same year.

Moreover, the Republican claims the investigation into Cendant began under his predecessor in the US Attorney’s office Bob Cleary.

But wait, there’s more!!!

Christie denied Wednesday that he reopened the investigation in 2002. But according to his own website…Christie did reopen the investigation and on the site it brags that Christie was able to gain convictions on those two former Cendant executives who previously “got away.”

Is any of this relevant to the average voter???? Not sure. But I guess the point is that once you start looking into someone’s investments, and then leak that story to the Star-Ledger, it opens the door to all of your investments